Yeah, whatever else you can say about Voir, they are indeed THAT GOOD, which is why it is so frustrating that they haven't really advanced since Vancouver. A good part of that has to do with Tessa's chronic shin problems, But a good part of it can be laid to choreography. For me, Carmen has a brilliant opening, a brilliant closing half, but sags in the middle when they glom traditional ice dancing in-hold patterns to the exciting tres moderne stuff that came before and after. They had the same problem with their samba long--genius opening, exciting close, saggy middle. And don't get me started about Funny Face--a second-rate knock off of a second-rate musical (it should tell you something when the two most memorable numbers in a Fred Astaire musical--the incomparable "Think Pink" sung by the legendary Kay Thompson and the hilarious bebop parody danced by Audrey Hepburn--do not involve Fred Astaire at all! And really the *best* part of that movie is Audrey's modeling montage in Paris). And there is no guarantee AT ALL that Marlie are going to dominate next year like they did this year. That's the reason why this rivalry is so good. In fifty years I bet people will still be talking about it.

Really, it's fine to be a fan of one dance team or another, but give credit where credit is eminently due.

-Voloszhar & Trankov, Yu Na Kim, and Davis & White are the clear and heavy favorites for the Olympic Gold in their categories.

-Canada will win the Team Event Gold.

-There are lots of good young ladies on the rise and womens skating will be in fine hands when Kim, Kostner, and Asada all retire following the 2014 season.

-The sport will be better off when Patrick Chan retires and he will not be missed.

-Denis Ten's star which had flickered out is one the rise again.

-Fernandez did not have his best competition but his GOE and PCS compared more favorably in the past vs Hanyu's, which is a good omen for their future battles.

-Takahashi might be a spent force at this point.

-Canadian pairs are on the rise in a huge way.

-Sui & Hong are at the end of their partnership and Hong at the end of his skating career most likely.

-Kostner is a new women from the earlier career headcase and is very tough and reliable now.

-Weaver & Poje are back on track and still very much contenders heading into next season and beyond.

ditto. also I might add that Davis and White's chances of wining olympic gold have increased exponentially (although as of right now Virtue and Moir are still the favorites in my book especially in light of the fact of a paso doble themed SD) why is it always a spanish-themed SD for the olympics????

This is an eight triple program, which anyone with any knowledge of figure skating knows is an incredible feat. But if Mao gets negative GOEs on maybe half of these jump passes, she would still lose to a totally clean program that has loads of double jumps and easier triples.

What do you think of this?

I think if anyone can do it is Mao Asada. I think she is on the right track.

I am hearing that the ISU (particularly the Ice Dance Tech Committee) is upset over the many 3-minute breaks (for various reasons) that occurred in the FD just in this season alone and that this issue will be addressed by the ISU mini-meeting this summer. Whether the ISU will make any changes to the current rule on this issue before the OWG in Sochi is anyone's guess.

The music starts, and it keeps going till the end. The only acceptable stoppage of a program without penalty should be due to circumstances completely beyond a skater's control.

Examples: Power outages or something being thrown onto the ice during a performance.

Non-examples: Injuries sustained before or during performances, costume malfunctions, and equipment failures. Seriously, if you lose a chance at an Olympic medal because your skate string broke... I guess you'll check them out beforehand next time.

The best book I've read about all the collusion and dealmaking in figure skating judging at the national and olympic level was written by Jon Jackson, a former USFSA international-level judge. It's called: On Edge: Backroom Dealing, Cocktail Scheming, Triple Axels, and How Top Skaters Get Screwed.

Thanks. Just ordered it from Amazon for a penny plus shipping. I know nothing about skating except what I like. But I have seen things that knowledgable fans see, and we just shake our heads. Until the individual judge's countrys of origin and marks are revealed, I have to question the validity of the new system. It can be tweeked, surely, to make it better than it is without that, but I want those judges accountable.

I read this book the year it came out. All of the issues Jackson speaks about occurred under the 6.0 judging system and was considered highly controversial by many in the figure skating community and panned by many as well. I no longer have this copy unfortunately but thought a lot of it was petty griping.

The most exciting and stimulating event was, once again, ice dancing
Meryl Davis and Charlie White (USA) won the gold medal. The silver medal went to Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir (CAN) and the bronze medal to Ekaterina Bobrova and Dmitri Soloviev (RUS).
Davis/White’s performance to “Notre Dame de Paris” was breathtaking. Their program is highlighted by intricate footwork and difficult lifts, but what is fantastic and unique is the way they skate, their unison, their passion. They talk with their bodies and they transmit a deep artistic emotion. Just fabulous. Thanks, Meryl and Charlie! You gave me a moment of intense joy and emotion that is so rare in skating nowadays.
Virtue/Moir were also incredible. They performed a passionate, sensuous and captivating program with some innovative lifts. Their skating is superb and their interpretation of a modern Carmen reached the heart of the public, which expressed their appreciation with great enthusiasm and a standing ovation.
Dancing to “Man With A Harmonica” and “Tosca”, Bobrova/Soloviev, the European champions, were ranked fourth in the free dance, but overall held on to third place to take their first world medal.
Anna Cappellini and Luca La Notte (ITA) placed 3rd in the free dance but placed 4th overall by a 1.09-point difference. Anna and Luca really interpreted Carmen and Don José with passion and emotion.

Number 1: Going through the all-event live is very exhausting. I'm glad to experience the World finally, but I don't think I'm going to do it again. Great experience and I love to see skaters that I never saw/noticed before, but it's physically and emotionally draining. You just feel so much more for the skaters than watching videos. I guess I will go to Grand Prix Final instead next time.

Number 2: The color of some costumes change a lot on TV, usually not as good as seeing it live, this is something I didn't notice before when I went to GP events.

Number 3: Seeing the skaters on the same ice do give one a better perspective. Yuna Kim had the strongest impact with her skating, Carolina's skating skills shows better live. Mao's skating is a bit small live, but her step sequence looked just as fabulous as on TV. Her SP and Ex looked better live than on TV. Thrilled to see Zijun Li shone in the LP, absolutely stunning. She got the first standing ovation of the night well before her program was finished. Seeing Yuna's clean LP was just a great feeling. So worried for Carolina. We could see blood spots from 300 level. Mao Asada is on ascending, and I admire her will power to challenge the limit of women's skating. I'm very positive for her to complete 8-triple LP in the 2014 Olympics.

V/M's Carmen looked better live, maybe because I couldn't see their expression that clear. I'm glad to see D/W win but the fight between D/W and V/M will go on, which is great for the sport. German team was very impressive with their dramatic and comic programs! Don't know if I saw them before but this time they definitely had very memorable programs.

V/T's LP was definitely the highlight of the pair events. D/R of Canada had a great SP. Good to see S/S did a 3Ath at the very end of their program. It's nice to see some less famous pairs did some interesting programs/elements. I was scared to death with K/S's lift. Going into the olympics, V/T is for sure the favorite, S/S is right there to fight for it, but they need better programs. The bronze is wide open.

For men, I found that I'm not impressed with Hanyu's skating at all, even his SP was not as good as on TV. His LP confirmed that he had bad posture and sloppy in his movement, but he put up a great fight to save all his jumps. Javier delighted me with that hilarious Ex, and his LP was just as good as on TV. Patrick's skating was great to see live even with the falls, but the falls were distracting even with the quick recovery. I hope he will find a technical coach next season. I'm surprised that I really enjoy Takahashi's skating this time. I saw him live several times before but this time somehow he was more impressive even with poor skates. Denis Ten did great and I'm really glad he won a silver. Great to see javier got a medal too. I predicted Javier to win before the competition but it doesn't matter.

So that's pretty much my impression of the World. I think I basically agree with the medal ranking for all disciplines.

1) The sport will be better off when Patrick Chan retires and he will not be missed.

2) Denis Ten's star which had flickered out is one the rise again.

3) Kostner is a new women from the earlier career headcase and is very tough and reliable now.

1) This is your personal bias. His skating skills are some of the loveliest, and his SP was fantastic. Many will miss him, even if you won't. He's a 3-time world champion and part of that is due to him being one of the best *skaters* ever.

2) Not to take anything away from Denis' brilliant performances, but this is one competition - he was well over 20-points over his PB and has never been close to the podium. Good on him for getting it together at the right time, but only time will tell on consistency. It's not like Yu Na at NRW/Korean Nationals where you can legitimately say a skater is "back".

3) Kostner had a fall in her SP, and 2 major mistakes in her LP a popped loop (her best jump normally) and a downgrade+fall at the end. Her silver was backed up primarily her great overall skating. Although that 3F-3T was amazing to see from her and I give her a lot of props for getting that back out there. If we're talking reliability, at Euros she made errors in her SP and LP too.

[...]
3) Kostner had a fall in her SP, and 2 major mistakes in her LP a popped loop (her best jump normally) and a downgrade+fall at the end. Her silver was backed up primarily her great overall skating. Although that 3F-3T was amazing to see from her and I give her a lot of props for getting that back out there. If we're talking reliability, at Euros she made errors in her SP and LP too.

Considering the numerous epic meltdowns she's had in the past, her performances at Worlds were practically "clean" by Kostner standards. If you don't remember too well, look up her performances at the past two Olympics, or Worlds 2009 and 2010, or pretty much most competitions before Vancouver for that matter.